A public meeting was held in the Court and Assembly Chamber of the town Hall at 1700hrs on Monday, 19 August 2013. Present were MLAs Edwards, Sawle, Hansen (Chair), Halford and Short.

In part 3 other members of the public had a say about various subjects.

A public meeting was held in the Court and Assembly Chamber of the town Hall at 1700hrs on Monday, 19 August 2013. Present were MLAs Edwards, Sawle, Hansen (Chair), Halford and Short.

In part 3 other members of the public had a say about various subjects.

PUBLIC
MEETING MONDAY, 19 AUGUST 2013

Part
3 Various Subjects

By J.
Brock (FINN)

A public
meeting was held in the Court and Assembly Chamber of the town Hall at 1700hrs
on Monday, 19 August 2013.Present were
MLAs Edwards, Sawle, Hansen (Chair), Halford and Short.

In part 3
other members of the public had a say about various subjects.

Ging Davis
brought up the cost of the public jetty but he didn’t like an MLA remark that
there were 3,000 engineers and now there are 3001.He has a great deal of respect for MLAs
because on the whole the work is voluntary and a very good job.However, he asked for respect when people
asked questions.He went on to use Dave
Eynon’s jetty as a good example and though more could be done to it like
pouring concrete behind the interlocking shuttering he has with a concrete
top.Mr Davis says he is sure he didn’t
spend £1.4 Million on that.

Gavin
Short agreed, saying the whole public jetty saga has not been a happy
experience.He said we hadn’t yet gone
over budget but he would prepare the general public as he thinks we will go
over budget.He wondered why the
causeway at Port William made for drilling wasn’t part of a permanent structure
and Ging Davis agreed.He acknowledged
that a whole load of problems including backwash problems probably would not
make it feasible.

Ging Davis
saw footage of the break-water at Gibraltar and said this was exactly what we
were looking at with Concrete on the top of it.It faces open sea instead of being built at an inland harbour.

Dick Sawle
said that in November/December 2009 when the new public jetty was proposed, £1.4
Million seemed to be too much.He went
on to say there is no doubt a new public jetty is needed for the tourists
because the present structure is dangerous.However, regardless of the cost, we cannot afford to be without a new,
safe public jetty.

Roger
Edwards took exception and said the first paper we had to EXCO after the last
election was a quote for £850,000.00 for a straight Jetty and £1.3 Million for
one with a “T” piece at the end.Last
month he put in a question at Standing Finance Committee, expecting an answer
this month but sadly it has been delayed until September Standing Finance
Committee.The price of the straight
jetty being talked about now has increased.He is confused at the statement as the budget has gone up without anyone
actually approving it in the first place.Seeing the figure is considerably £1.3Million quoted in 2012 Mr Edwards
wants to know why the budget for the new public jetty hasn’t been approved and
what is going on as the original £850,000.00 has now risen to £1.5Million.

Gavin
short had asked when drilling started if we had gone over budget and he was
told no as it was within the prescribed contingencies.Roger Edwards said he wasn’t sure what budget
it was and this is why he asked the question to Standing Finance Committee.

Ging Davis
said that PWD had the skills to build the jetty and he wondered why they hadn’t
been tasked to build it.Roger Edwards
said that within this last budget had increased from £18Million to £40Million
and there wasn’t the labour force to do the jetty straight away.Contractors would be brought in to do it.

Ging Davis
asked if it could not be a case of privatisation.Gavin Short repeated that he didn’t have
enough bodies in PWD to build the jetty and the other worked they had been asked
to do.He is worried about any future
labour projects due to the lack of skilled and unskilled labour.

The
subject of sheet piling was brought up and something about back-wash of
launches coming in caused issues with this type of piling.Gavin Short is still working on an
answer.Dick Sawle added that any wave
action would wash rock away.Gavin Short
asked about proper rock being put in.roger Edwards said the first two EXCO papers – proposals - were for
sheet piling in-fill.The current plan is
for piles.

Lyn
Buckland changed the question by asking Gavin Short where we were with the
noise problem – getting something done about noises late at night.Gavin Short said the small group that met
with the Attorney General resulted in a paper that would be put through to EXCO
but not one comprised of members of this Assembly.He went on to say the new EXCO had to buy
into this as it would come into being during the life of the new Assembly.A graduated approach is being looked at in
that a person cranking up after a Policeman has told them to turn it down, the
person is in danger of having that music equipment confiscated with a small
storage charge to be paid if the music equipment is to be returned.

If the
problem persists it could end up in court.However, there will be over-arching legislation about nuisances in
general but what was focused on this time was noise emanating from the
curtilage of a property.Vehicular boom
boxes were discussed and will be addressed in due course.A small, persistent approach to the problem
will be carried out in the first recommendations.

Gary
Clement said that about 18 months ago a Policeman told residents of the YMCA
they had the right to take the gear away from a noisy resident.He wondered if they were mistaken.Mr Short said that he had been told time and
time again that until we get the legislation people were powerless in enforcing
any kind of nuisance action.

Roger
Edwards said someone seconded into the Force may have been mistaken because
overseas police have powers to take action against noisy people.The new legislation would cover all loud,
unpleasant noises.Gavin Short said it
would include barking dogs.

Over a
year ago Ging Davis mentioned parking in front of Argos House on H Jones
Road.This was a dangerous practice as
it blocked visibility for drivers.All
that was needed was a yellow line.Gary
Clement said you could avoid the danger by parking on the other side of the
road.There is a parking lot that was
not full and vehicles were parked on the road.Gavin Short will move this forward.

(100X
Transcription Service)

Editor’s
note:With reference to noise nuisance,
one would hope that the construction of some flats would be taken into account
when complaints are made.In some instances
chairs that squeak and flushing toilets can be unpleasant sounds but they
shouldn’t be an excuse to waste any police time.

I used to
talk with my neighbour, Sue Howes (Mijic) through the wall at Admiralty
Cottage.I would sit in my lounge and she
at her kitchen table.One such
conversation lasted about an hour one afternoon when a repairman visited Sue’s
flat and reported that she talked to the wall and it answered her back.